Play Time
by uniabocetaP
Summary: Bard watches over his children play together with their new toys. However, a dispute immerges. One-Shot


Bard entered his home in Laketown. It was a long and weary day· the King of the Woodland Realm was holding many parties these days. Those elves surely knew how to celebrate the Yule day. However, that also meant that more barrels came down the river and so he had extra work those days.

But Bard didn't complain. Extra work meant also extra money and he was in dire need of it. Especially now, that it was only his duty to provide for his three children. Seven months had passed since his beloved wife's death· she couldn't survive the high fever that took her. He was devastated at her death, but he had to recover quickly for the sake of his children.

He looked around his home to locate his three children, Bain, Sigrid and the young Tilda who was only a toddler and couldn't talk properly yet. 'Da!' exclaimed all together and rushed to hug him. Bain and Sigrid took him by the waist and little Tilda hug his leg. Violet, his young neighbor who had agreed to look after the young children while he was away, working, left the house wishing him good night. She was very kind to babysit since he wasn't able to pay her but only a few coins each month.

With difficulty he managed to reach the table. The kids where chattering all together incoherently· they didn't seem to care that he couldn't understand what they were saying. Bard put the packages that he was carrying onto the table. Sigrid was the first to take notice of them.

"What are those, Da?" asked him expectantly. It was tradition on the eve of the Yule day to present gifts to their kinds and she knew it.

"Presents" said Bard with a grin.

"P'esents!" exclaimed little Tilda and demanded a hug so she could have a better view of the table, while his two eldest where jumping up and down with excitement. Bard was also exuberant with his kids response to his surprise, since he had to work extra to be able to buy the gifts.

"Yes, presents! This one is for Bain" he handed a long package to his son "that one is for Sigrid and that one belongs to you" he said to the youngest that lay in his hands.

He let down Tilda and watched them as they opened their gifts. Bain's gift was a small wooden sword. He waved it killing a fantastic foe with a wide grin. Sigrid squealed when she revealed her stuffed doll. It had straw hair and two large brown buttons for eyes. Tilda called out "baby!" when she saw her stuffed doll. It was almost identical to her sister's but it had blue buttons for eyes.

"Thank you, Da!" said Sigrid. As the eldest of the three, the loss of their mother had the greatest impact on her. Moreover she was the only one to understand the difficult economic situation they are in. So she understood how difficult it must have been for their Da to acquire those gifts.

"Thank you, Da!" said Bain too and Tilda echoed his words with a simple "Da!" as she tended to do those days. She would mimic Bain and Sigrid in everything she could, she was their shadow. When they played she would follow them running behind them as fast as her little feet could carry her. But she never went far· she was still very unsteady when walking let alone running.

Bard picked up the rest of the packages and unpacked the ingredients for their dinner. He would roast a nice piece of pork and would prepare crispy potatoes, carrots and onions. He would also smash a few potatoes with carrots for Tilda cause that way she would eat the carrots without knowing she does. Oddly enough, she loved eating onions. Thankfully, he was an experienced cook and he was always the one to prepare dinner for his family even before his wife's death.

Meanwhile the children picked up a game with their new toys. The girls were mothers abducted by Smaug with their babies and Bain would save them from his lair in the mountain. They picked up the sheets to recreate the mountains of gold that the legends had to be piled up in Smaug's lair. On top of them they laid big cushions to represent the dragon. While chopping vegetables and cutting the pork into small pieces, Bard heard vaguely his children conversing with a dragon, tending to crying babies, killing Orcs and conspiring with thrusts.

After some time, the pork was roasting, the vegetables were cooked and Bard was smashing the remaining potatoes and carrots for the toddler, when he took notice that something was amiss between his kids.

"I kill the d'agon!" he heard Tilda demanding.

"No!" replied Bain "girls don't kill dragons!"

"Why not?" demanded an explanation Sigrid.

"Because they don't! Girls are weak!"

"No!" said his elder sister "Violet says that women are stronger because they give birth to babies!"

"St'onge'! " agreed in high voice Tilda even though she could not even pronounce the world properly.

"But...but..." it was obvious in his creased forehead that Bain was trying hard to contradict his sister "I have the sword!" said triumph fully to them.

"Not for long! Give me the sword!"

"Swo'd!" demanded alongside her sister Tilda.

"No!"

"Yes!" shouted Sigrid.

"Swo'd" cried Tilda.

At that point Bard decided to interfere. Usually he let his kids resolve their problems alone, but now his intervention was needed. With a few quick strides he reached them and took from them the toys. He was tempted to smack them too, but he restrained himself.

"Detention. All of you" he said steadily and pointed towards the detention spot at the back of the room. As expected a riot begun.

"Da, I did nothing! They started it!" said Bain with anger while pointing to his sisters.

"He didn't want to let us play! It's his fault!" tried to demonstrate him as culpable Sigrid.

But Bard remained unmoved. Instead he scooped up his younger daughter and led her to the detention spot while she was shouting "His fault!" he said nothing more but looked sternly at his eldest children waiting for them to join Tilda.

With long faces they joined her at their spot and looked at him with their arms crossed. He left them there and went to resume his tasks. After not even two minutes he heard them talk among them.

"He didn't even ask whose fault it was!" complained Sigrid.

"No! That's not fair!"

"Not fai' " Tilda tried to participate and not to be left out.

"What a tyrant!" added Sigrid.

"Tyrant?"

"Ty'and?" wondered the young ones.

"Erm...I don't know what it is...but violet says that the Master of the Laketown is a tyrant. So it must be something awful!"

"For sure!" agreed Bain appeased now.

"Bad man!" said the toddler and the kids begun telling stories of a master that eat kids for breakfast. They had already forgotten their dispute and, at first, united against their father and then against a fantastic monster they were playing cheerfully together again. As Bard had hoped all along ,when he had put them on detention. After a while he put their toys near them, so to take them if they desired them and half an hour later they were all telling stories together around the dinner table.


End file.
